In August, the services sector in Brazil registered a negative change of 3.5% in terms of volume of services when compared with the same month in the previous year, against -4.2% in July and -2.2% in June. Except for March, which recorded a growth of 2.3%, it maintained the row of negative figures in 2015. The cumulative rate in the year stood at -2.6% and in 12 months, at -1.1%.

Compared with August 2014, only the segment of Information and communication services grew in terms of volume of services (0.2%). The negative changes per segment were: Services rendered to families (-8.2%), Professional, administrative and complementary services (-5.2%), Transportation, support activities for transportation and mailing activities (-4.4%) and Other services (-12.5%). The special aggregate of Tourism activities grew 0.1%.

In this same comparison, nominal revenue increased 1.0% and became the second lowest rate in the time series started in 2012, only after that of February 2015 (0.9%). The cumulative rate of nominal revenue in the year reached 2.1% and in 12 months, 3.0%.

This is the first time that the IBGE releases the volume indexes, the disaggregation of the activity of 'Communication and information technology services' into two new series: 'Telecommunications' and 'Information technology services', and the Index of Tourism Activities - IATUR. The series of the new indexes are available retroactively to January 2012. Click here to access the complete publication.

The segment of Services rendered to families retracted 8.2% in terms of volume of services in August over the same month in the previous year, against -1.9% in July and -2.6% in June, maintaining the time series constantly negative since May 2014. It was the second highest retraction in the time series started in January 2012, only after the retraction of 9.1% posted in May 2015. The cumulative rate in the year stood at -4.8% and in 12 months, at -4.3%. Lodging and food services and Other services rendered to families declined 8.7% and 5.2%, respectively

Information and communication services registered a growth in terms of volume of services of 0.2% in August when compared with the same month last year, against -0.2% in July and -0.8% in June. The cumulative change in the year stood at 1.2% and, in 12 months, at 1.7%. Communication and information technology services - ICT negatively changed 0.5% in terms of volume of services, highlighted by Telecommunications (-1.4%) and Information technology services (2.6%). Audiovisual, publishing and news agency services grew 5.3% in terms of volume of services.

The segment of Professional, administrative and complementary services dropped 5.2% in terms of volume of services in August when compared with the same month a year ago, against a drop of 3.9% in July and 1.3% in June. The cumulative rate in the year stood at -2.4% and, in 12 months, at -1.0%. Technical-professional services, which correspond to knowledge-intensive services, declined 5.3% in terms of volume of services and Administrative and complementary services, which encompass labor-intensive services, declined 5.1%.

The segment of Transportation, support activities for transportation and mailing activities registered a negative change of volume of 4.4% in August over the same month last year. In July and June, this segment posted negative changes of 8.5% and 3.6%, respectively. The cumulative rate in the year stood at -5.6% and, in 12 months, at -3.2%. In terms of mode, the figures for volume were: Land transportation (-10.5%), Waterway transportation (20.9%), and Air transportation (17.4%). The activity of Storage services, support activities for transportation and mailing activities registered a decrease of 2.8%.

The segment of Other services changed -12.5% in terms of volume in August, against -8.9% in July and -7.2% in June. The cumulative change in the year stood at -8.2% and, in 12 months, at -5.8%.

Tourism activities increased 0.1% in August when compared with August 2014, against a retraction of 5.7% in July and 0.2% in June. The cumulative growth in the year stayed at -2.4% and the cumulative in 12 months, at -1.6%.

Regional results

In regional terms, only six Federation Units recorded positive changes of volume in relation to August 2014: Rondônia (9.6%), Roraima (5.7%), Mato Grosso (3.8%), Mato Grosso do Sul (3.3%), Rio Grande do Norte (2.6%) and the Federal District (2.1%). The highest negative changes were reported in Amapá (-14.2%), Maranhão (-12.2%) and Sergipe (-7.8%).